A couple of weeks ago I had my students generate sensory details for a poem using abstract images and lyric-less electronic music as inspiration. My favorite electronic music conjures up strong images in my mind, and I think at least some of the students enjoyed the exercise and created some interesting images to base a poem on. For the past year or so, I have been obsessed with the Nightlife Vol. 5 drum and bass mix by Andy C. He's probably the UK's biggest drum and bass dj, and not only is he an incredibly talented mixer, but the records he chooses have great beats and dark production. When I listen to the mix I think of:
- a recently beheaded serpent thrashing about uncontrollably while trying to order a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich
- two creatures from James Cameron's classic film Aliens snapping at each other with poisonous talons, while a bemused UPS worker repeatedly asks if one of them can sign for their royalty checks.
- a meteor smashing through the roof of the last remaining Best Buy store.
- somebody locating a magic button in Target that instantly transforms every shopper into an anthropomorphized cat carrying a power drill that is turned to too powerful a setting for the cat-humans to control.
- The entire Jetson family accidentally consuming steroids in their space-cereal, and the scene morphing from a happy-go-lucky cartoon space utopia to a roided out, irrational battle royal of Jetson rage.
- a post-apocalyptic scene, with not even a small breeze to indicate signs of life. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a yellow daisy sprouts from the wreckage. Hope! Within seconds, however, another blast of nuclear slime Chicken McNugget filling destroys everything in sight.
The best drum and bass swiftly switches in mood from dark to light and back again, and Andy C.'s mix does this masterfully. If you have ANY interest in drum and bass, get Nightlife Vol. 5 now. The three records below are seamlessly mixed together about seven minutes into the mix. So freaking great.
